The Other
by Aloria Von
Summary: Emmett left something imortant behind in his human life and it devastates him Jasper loves Alice but only as a sister Bella is aching after Edward leaves her when Tessa and her uncle arrive in Forks they could rock everyones lives forever starts in NM
1. Chapter 1

I loved her. She was definitely the most important woman in my entire life. It was hard to go even a day without hearing her voice or seeing her smile. Every night I'd stretch out on our couch with my head in her lap and I'd listen while she read her favorite stories. She used to love books so much. My little bookworm. My beautiful little Emillea.

I'd wanted to see her. When I woke up - after I got over the shock of being a monster with an angel at his side - I'd wanted to see my Milly. I couldn't, Carlisle told me. He said I would hurt her. He said I would scare her. My Milly, my fierce lion of a flower, he thought I would scare her? But when I saw myself - my eyes, my skin, my face - I knew I would never see my Milly again. By now she'd be gone, probably. Emillea had always said she would never let herself grow old and haggard. She meant everything she bothered to say so I knew that she was gone. My Emillea.

I never let Edward hear me think about her. When he was around I put all my thoughts and memories of her in the back of my mind. She was mine. I never shared her with any other man before and I wouldn't share her with him. Even if Edward was my brother and was probably the closest any man came to being acceptable for my Milly. Neither he nor Jasper were deserving of my lovely, shining star Emillea. I only let myself think of her when I was alone. When I was sure no prying minds or ears or whatever would find her I remembered her. The Fair Queen of my human heart.

Of course, Rosalie didn't know of her either. She wouldn't understand. I loved Rose just as much as I loved Milly - only in a completely separate way. My Rose could never replace my Milly, but neither could my Milly couldn't possibly upstage my Rose. They were tied in the war they didn't know they were in. I wanted the one just as much as I needed the other. It was torture to be without my Emillea - worse when I knew she was alive - and I knew it would be just as terrible to be without Rosalie. Rose was my angel and Milly was my horizon.

After Bella came I started noticing little things about her that reminded me of Emillea. Little quirks like the way she held her brows when she thought about something she didn't like, the way she walked when she was happy, how her lips were just barely uneven when they curved to smile. I could let out some of my pent up love for my beloved human on my brother's. It wasn't the nearly the same, but Bella was fun. I learned to love her for her, too, but I still missed my Milly.

* * *

I loved the way my body felt when I ran full out. It felt like I could fly if I jumped. It was like all of my all ready heightened sense were heightened even further. I could see every tiny, insignificant detail of each and every tiny, insignificant pine needle as I sped past them at far past impossible speeds. I could taste every speck of water and dust clinging to the air. I could feel the wind as it lashed fruitlessly at my exposed skin. I could smell every plant, animal and person that had left their marks in the woods. I could hear the sound of my sire, Asher, fallowing close behind me.

"I'm not going to fast for you, am I, old man?" I called louder than I needed to

"Of course not, my dear, I'm only letting you lead so I don't have to hear you breathing down my neck." he laughed "Focus on where you're going. We don't want you running into any trees."

I had never run into anything in my entire undead life. Hearing my only friend left in the world making jokes like that made me smile. Asher sounded so much like...well, he had a similar sense of humor. Everything was funny to him and what was funny to him was funny to everyone. You couldn't _not_ smile. Ash had always been like that, ever since I met him over seventy years ago.

Back then I was alone. I'd lost the only person in the world I let myself rely on and I'd wasted away. Back then I wanted to die. I wanted that horrible, empty human life to be over and so when Asher came and found me drowning in my depression he offered to help me in the only way he could. He turned me into a vampire. He made me this beautiful, powerful creature that I was now. He gave me the freedom to be here, he gave me the gift of my strength and he gave me his all. He became my family. He didn't replace what I had last but he distracted me from my loneliness well enough to keep me from burning myself alive. He kept me happy.

We traveled around the world, living like humans...well, as close to human as we could. We didn't hunt them. Asher had before, but in the end he couldn't put down his morals enough to continue. As for me, I had never fed from a human in my existence. I found it disgusting. Every vampire had once been a human - any who would kill one to drink their blood was a cannibal. It was that simple. We had no interest in cannibalism. We were the vampire version of P.E.T.A.

We were headed for Seattle to pick up our new car. It wouldn't do to show up running to our new town. It would scare the humans. Besides, Ash liked cars nearly as much as I liked running. He drove at only about half the speed, though, since there weren't many cars that could take the strain. Even with the sluggish pace cars brought us down to we would still reach our new town in less than an hour. Forks, Washington, one of the most overcast places in America. The Human population was minimal and the wildlife population in the surrounding forest was large enough to feed even a coven ten times our size. Perfect.

When we reached the car lot in Seattle we were greeted by anxious and awed salesmen. Our car was ready and waiting as Asher had requested when he'd called earlier. A sleek 2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500-H. A nearly perfect gunmetal paint job with shiny chrome rims and a luxurious black leather and mahogany interior. I was most certainly in love and it only got better under the hood - a thundering V-8 engine with 500 horsepower. Drooling yet? I was (well, not literally, but still).

I slipped into the passenger seat knowing the Ash would want first dibs on driving a car this lovely. He always pulled the 'adult, sire, born first, made you' card whenever there was something we both wanted for ourselves. It wasn't really fair, but I learned to placate him. He threw tantrums that would rival even the most spoiled toddler's. They were quite funny to watch, but I had trouble containing my laughter and that just made the tantrums turn into full out outrage.

The ride to Forks was as quiet as I would have expected. Asher and I were very close but neither of us were much for conversation. We each had our minds busy with our own thoughts so we weren't uncomfortable in silence. A vampire's thoughts were never silent. I knew very well that I didn't at all want to know the every thought of one of my kind.

When I was human he always told me...no, that's not true. There were many things he never told me. I always tried not to think about my mortal days. I had been betrayed and abandoned and I was never even given an explanation. The most important person to me in that life left one day and then never came back. He said he would. I waited for him, but he never came back. He said he'd protect me, but in the end I was alone. He left me on my own; my Emmett.

When we reached Forks, Ash set to work right away. He had had our furniture and other things sent to our new home ahead of us. The house would be just as fine for us if it was empty, but humans had furniture. We didn't want to let on to our true nature. Asher ran around the house arranging and rearranging couches and chairs and tables and blah de blah blah blah... None of that stuff really mattered at all to me. I was fine with even just the bare minimum - a couch in the living room, a table and two chairs in the dining room, a bed and couple of dressers. Asher thought it was important to have a fully decorated house with all the trimmings that can still be comfortable for human to be in. He just liked to make things look pretty. I didn't get it. Humans didn't come to our houses. No matter where we went it was the same, humans know to stay away. They don't know they know but their bodies know even if they don't.

I knew he'd be busy for while so I left him to it so I could get something to eat. When I hunted I was more like a creature than a person. I stalked my prey with complete confidence and focused almost entirely on the kill. It was because of that 'almost' that I smelled it; vampires. It was not my scent, and not Ash's. We were on someone else's territory.

I could clearly smell them. I wasn't sure how many there were, but by the strength and mixture of the scent it was obvious that there were more of them than there were us and it hadn't been very long since they had walked the same land I walked then. I stopped and debated whether or not I should just go back and demand that Asher pack everything up and leave. I decided to eat first. I was hungry.

My favorite food was timber wolf. They tasted the best. No timber wolves, though. I caught a small herd of elk and took down a doe. I wasn't in the mood to play with my food the way I knew I would if I hunted a buck. Herbivores were kind of nasty, but they were good enough. The doe did the job so I headed back to Asher after I'd finished with her.

Asher was sitting on the back porch when I returned. He fit into the lush green of Washington perfectly. He had set up a little glass table with a few winding iron chairs and a beautiful wooden porch swing. I had always loved his classic romance novel appearance, long curly blonde hair, paper white skin, haunting hazel eyes, perfect full lips...every part of him screamed masculine. But, of course, Asher was a vampire and vampires were naturally (or unnaturally) beautiful.

"Ash, we've got a problem." I called as I reached the porch  
"And what's that, dear?" he smiled  
"Vampires." I said and sat down beside him on the porch swing  
"Vampires? We have a problem with vampires?" he laughed a little and smirked "Back to self-loathing are you, Tessa, my dear?"  
"No. We have to leave. I was hunting and I picked up another coven's scent." it wasn't too hard to keep from smiling at his teasing "This is someone else's territory, Ash."  
He didn't seem all that surprised "Really? And you think we should just leave, do you, my dear?"  
"Well, we can't just stay here." I was starting to get a little annoyed with him  
"I think we should. Of course, we'll have to greet our new neighbors if we do. Or we could just let them come to greet us. If they care about this land at all, they'll realize soon that we're here and they'll want to see us. How many are there?" he was so at ease I might as well have just told him I'd seen a flock of geese  
"More than us." I gaped at him in confusion  
"Alright. You have school tomorrow, do you want to get a little sleep before the big show?" he pat my arm and stood, offering his hand

I stared at him for a moment. I did want to go to bed, but I was still concerned about this other coven. I figured I could just make him tell me when I woke up. I took his hand and let him lead me to my bed so I could sleep. He sat down on the bed with his shoulder pressed to the wall and patted the spot beside him. I climbed up and snuggled into his chest. He pet my hair and hummed softly until I loosened the chords of my mind enough to make myself fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

School…worse yet, high school. Teenage boys brimming to their hair lines with testosterone and girls so vain and ego-centric that they wouldn't be able to see another's point of view if it slapped them upside the head with a fly swatter. Tenacity, envy, odium, lust, jealousy, malice and hormones through the roof. Doesn't that sound like fun? Oh, and don't forget the cherry on top – this was a high school in the middle of a town full of vampires.

Wasn't I so excited I was in a tizzy? Uhm…no.

Reasons not to be fluster up like I was a middle-aged house wife at an ice-cream social:

1) I got sick of boys checking me out back in 1932.  
2) Vegetarians and Cannibals usually don't mix well.  
3) High school sucks tarred and feathered pig balls.  
4) I could only learn the same things over again so many times before they made me want to shoot myself.  
5) Shooting myself would do pretty much nothing.  
6) Vampires rank worse than rotting bodies in a fetid pile.  
7) I had a very big suspicion that Ash was holding out on me.  
8) I just didn't like it all together.

But I didn't have a choice in the matter. In any matter. Mr. I'm-your-sire-and-I'm-in-charge had already decided that little old me was an eighteen year old and I needed a proper education. Boo him. Like I needed another man to try and control me…and yet, there I was chucking my stupid tote into the back of the mustang at 8:10 in the morning. I didn't really have a choice.

"Darling-dearest, you forgot your goodbye kiss." Ash called from where he stood in the doorway, watching me like a little creep. I flipped him the bird with both hands for good measure.

He laughed at me and then I peeled out of our drive way and down the street. We always picked our houses carefully. They had to be a little out of the way from the hustle and bustle, what little of it there was, in the little towns where we squatted. We had to be careful to avoid prying eyes. We also didn't want to be too far away and make it seem like we were hiding something and not just that we wanted our privacy.

People suspected strange things enough just with the fact that I was an eighteen year old living with a twenty-seven year old. Humans had strange enough minds to see error in that even with the story that he was my uncle. Perverts.

Driving through the little town was my first chance to really get a good look at everything. I didn't bother checking much out before I went hunting and our house was on the outskirts so we didn't even see other houses when we arrived from Seattle. This was one of the smallest towns we'd visited to date. There had been a few smaller in Canada…a lot smaller, but that didn't change the fact that this place was more like a village than a town. The people were typical, happy small-towners. They walked and drove and stood talking to their neighbors. Most had likely aged together, knowing one another their entire lives. That was something I envied in humans. They could believe they would be able to keep their loved ones forever…until that all came crashing down on them.

My stomach burned and I winced. I knew it didn't really hurt, but I still felt it. That was pain that never left you.

Then I was turning into the student parking lot of the little Forks High School. With gloomy, overcast skies, I couldn't help but find the place a little ominous. One of the few things that made me wish Ash had said I was his young bride instead of his niece, like he did every now and then to give me a break from school, was the fact that I could only go out in this weather. Only in the murk and gloom could I even pretend to be normal. When I pretended to be an adult, though, I got to do whatever I wanted. If that meant me taking a trip out to our beach house in southern California and spending a couple of weeks in the water, so be it.

Teenagers can't do that.

I parked and stepped out to the little office building. I had the car practically crawling here so I could take in the sights, and I actually ended up being late. The little woman at the front desk seemed even more shocked than most when I walked up to her.

"Good morning. I'm starting here and I don't know where I'm supposed to be right now."  
"O-oh…er…oh." She sputtered.

_Right…_

So the first happy little Forks…ian I spoke to was a total freak; misfortunate fluke or ill-omened warning for a very strange few years?

"Here you are…ehm…T-Tessa…" Her voice was all high and squeaky with anxiety.  
I took the paper she handed me and was on my way as quickly as humanly walking made it possible. "Thank you."

I was going to have to tear some of Asher's tows off if my day got any worse.

So I had English first period. The map the secretary, or whatever it is her title was, had printed for me directed me to the room and I found a seat away from the humming students.

They were staring. I didn't really hold it against them, since that was how everyone had reacted to the sight of me since I was turned. Hell that was inches from my own reaction when I saw Asher for the first time. Your first time seeing a vampire is something no one is really ready for.

I sat there listening to them whisper and murmur about me for a quick moment until the teacher was ready to start his lesson.

"…Oh, my god…" a girl gasped. "Do you see that?"  
"Yeah…it's like those freaks never left…" a boy told her.  
"What do you think the story is there?" another boy was saying.  
"…Maybe she's a relative…" yet another boy answered.

They really didn't know how to keep their traps shut, did they? Maybe I could teach these folks some manners during my stay.

The teacher turned out to be annoying as hell. The lesson was identical to any of the hundreds of lesson plans I had encountered in my many, many years of education. The students seemed to be paying more attention to me in the back corner of the room than they did their studies. That made me think I had fallen into a literary shit hole. Or even a cesspool of idiocy. Oh, goody, and I was so looking forward to my time in Forks, already.

As slowly as the day passed I eventually made it to lunch. I spent the hour in the car. I didn't want to risk having to sit next to any of them and pretend to enjoy their revolting excuse for food. My food might still be kicking when I eat it, but at least it didn't taste like shit and ash. Here, would you like a shit and ash sandwich, Tess? No thanks, I'm good. You enjoy that, though, you slavering mongrel.

Nasty little beasts.

I started thinking about what the blithering twits in English had been saying. The way they were talking about me wasn't normal. It wasn't 'Ooh…pretty…' it was 'She looks familiar'. So then were the vampires here walking around amongst their prey? Did they spend time in town as if they weren't a bunch of monsters awaiting the moment they could strike? How sickening.

When I heard the bell ring, I waited in my car for all of the humans to get inside – savoring those little moments of peace. I didn't hate humans, but I didn't like crowds and proper human behavior was to travel in packs; like wolves. When my time ran out I reluctantly ran to class. I made it there on time, of course…but I wished I hadn't.

Ash was already waiting for me in bed when I got home.

* * *

Anyone who has read this far, i would love to hear what you think is going on or what will happen next. Any thoughts on anything are welcome really. =)

Hope you're enjoying reading as much as I'm enjoying writing.


	3. Chapter 3

Things only seemed to get stranger over time.

Ash was spending a lot of time hunting by himself. It wasn't like I had to have him with me twenty four-seven, but it wasn't like him to want to be alone so much. It made me worry a bit, I guess. That and seeing as I couldn't sleep without him, I was really feeling tired after a couple of days.

School wasn't making things any easier…but then, when does it ever. Forks is in the running for strangest place in America. In fact, this place could very well be about a mile ahead. All of its inhabitants appear to either be complete and total idiots, malfunctioning as sentient beings, or – as is my guess – they aren't afraid. As simple as that; they just don't fear me.

I don't mean that I don't weird them out or that any of them at all can relax when I'm around, but it's strange. I've yet to scare anyone out of a room. I get plenty enough weird glances, but it's less afraid or worried and more…curious.

The strangest of it all: they've tried to talk to me.

"Ehm… Hi." I glanced up from painting my pinky nail and found a bouncy girl smiling a nervously down at me. "I'm Ashley Kowalski."

I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. What type of idiot offers themselves up to a freak like me? Did she have a death wish? Not that I would ever oblige one, but she wouldn't know that. "Tessa Hartmann."

"Well! Er… Nice to know you can speak." She giggled. It sounded like she was in trouble; like when some people get caught breaking the law and they start laughing because they don't know what else to do.  
"Yeah."  
"I…I just wanted to s-sorta welcome you to the school. I mean, I know you've been here a few days, but you have a knack for disappearing."

A knack for disappearing? She didn't even know how right she was. I wanted to laugh. To throw my head back and laugh.

"Thanks," I gave her a little smile. "and just so you know; I don't disappear. I'm just not a big fan of crowds."

The girl's eyes went wide at my smile and her cheeks heated to a cute pink. "Oh."

"If you don't mind, I need to make sure these are done and dry before next period." I waved my fingers in front of my face to give her the hint.  
"Y-yeah, of course. Bye." And then she finally left.

Weird, right?

Yeah, if only that was all of it.

At lunch it wasn't raining. The sun wasn't out and the rain wasn't falling. The clouds were stretched grey and taught, as if they were trying their hardest to keep a hold of themselves. This meant that I had an obligation not to waste this time hiding out in my car.

I sat on top of an old picnic table, abandoned in the grass and settled in to unwind a little. I had a sketch pad in my lap and a pencil in my hand and I was happy just to have a good, quiet place to rest. The trees in Washington were getting antsy, waiting for me to sketch them.

If only things would've gone the way they were supposed to.

I spotted the little group as soon as they left the cafeteria. Three boys and two girls. One of said girls was hanging on one of said boys in that grossly overdone way that always made me want to gag. I realized after a moment that they were headed my way. Oh, joy.

"Hey, Tessa, right?" The boy in front called out to me. He looked like a cocky asshole; manicured brown hair and an averagely attractive face. I always thought it was pretty funny that the ones who were typically average were the ones who were cockiest. After all, the prettiest humans were too narcissistic to care about being cocky.  
"What is it?"  
"Hey, hey – don't get on edge. We just wanted to say hi. Thought you might use some company, seeing as you're sitting alone out here and all."

I glanced up at him, making sure I wasn't glaring. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, leaned back to get a better look at me. He had one side of his bottom lip sucked in like he was appreciating a car engine. I wanted to find out what face he might make if I threw him onto the roof.

"Thanks for the consideration, but I do just fine on my own." I smiled, knowing full well it wouldn't look happy or kind at all. "Oh, and hello. So bye-bye now."

I had my head turned to my sketchbook so I couldn't say which, but one of the girls scoffed, then, as if I'd mortally offended her.

They left, muttering and M.F-ing me the whole way. They left behind one member of their little set though.

She was a tall girl, a little gangly, with long dark hair that looked a little heavy on her frame. She seemed pretty hesitant, but still she stayed – even with me doing my outright best to ignore her. My best was pretty damn good, too.

"Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit?" she asked  
"Do whatever you want."

She sat tentatively beside me. It was obvious she was uncomfortable. That made me uncomfortable; what on earth could this silly human want with me? What could provoke such stupid determination?

I sighed. Only one way to find out. "I'm Tessa."

She breathed out a funny little tight breath as if she had been holding it in for a while. "Hi. I'm Angela."

"Anything I can do for you Angela?" Dear Lord, don't let her say something stupid.  
"Er… I kind of wanted to ask you something."  
"Ask away." I grinned a true devil's grin "I certainly don't have anything to hide."  
"Well, it might seem strange, but… Do you know the Cullens?"  
"Who?" Was that a band or something?  
"The Cullen family."  
"Sorry, can't say I've heard of them."  
"Alright."

It got a little quiet then. I tried to sketch the tree line, but this girl sitting there next to me with her thumb tapping on her arm was making me want to tear my hair out.

I stuck my pencil into the binding of my sketchbook and put them both down on my lap.

"Am I supposed to know them for some reason?" I asked, finally bothering to turn her way.

She blushed and smirked an oh-so-familiar fool's smirk. "Well, I was…" She dropped her chin for a second before she could start again. "Everyone here has been wondering since you got here if you were their cousin or something."

Yet another moment to make me laugh.

I couldn't hold back my grin. "And why would they think that?"  
"…because you look like them." She told me.

That was a bit of a shock. I looked like them. _I _looked like them? So everyone in the school had fallen of their rockers. Nice.

Then it hit me. Why it didn't happen sooner, I'll never know, but I knew what she meant. I looked like them. The Cullens. A family that looks like they could be my cousins in a town where I knew there were vampires – other than my own coven.

"Well, that's interesting. Would you like to tell me about them?"

She paused for a second and thought through something. "I didn't really know them well."

Didn't?

"That's alright. I'm an easily pleased person, so just tell me what you think of them. From what you do know, I mean."

I wasn't sure if she had meant to say didn't or if it was an accident so I tried to weasel more out of her. Didn't. Didn't might mean they were gone, but I knew they couldn't be gone for long. Their scent was still pretty fresh when we arrived and what could make a bunch of vampires just abandon their territory?

"Well… Dr. Cullen and his wife couldn't have kids so they adopted. It was a little strange because they adopted teenagers. Apparently they adopted kids from two families one with two boys and a girl and another with one boy and one girl. It made it even weirder that they dated each other."

Wait…what?

"The kids dated each other? Even though they were supposed to be a family?"  
"Yeah and Dr. and Mrs. Cullen were fine with it."  
"That's a little awkward, don't you think? What about the fifth wheel?"  
"Uhm… there's something I should explain first." I nodded to urge her on, "Since they were in relationships they stayed with each other all the time – even the fifth wheel. And they were really…well, pretty; like you."

I tried to look embarrassed. Too bad I couldn't blush; I didn't want to seem stuck up by agreeing or something.

"Everyone here was a little intimidated. No one really wanted to talk to them and when anyone tried to, they usually gave them a cold shoulder."  
"So if a shy, pretty person who doesn't like to talk mush intimidates everyone so much…why are you here?"  
"Ehm… I was getting to that." She smiled and shifted her weight like she felt out of place. "The fifth wheel; his name is Edward. He was always with his family and by himself, you know? Some idiots even thought he was gay because he never paid attention to girls… I'm pretty sure they were just mad that he never looked at them." We both laughed at that and Angela started blushing even more furiously.  
"Last year, though, a girl moved here and Edward stopped ignoring everyone. They started dating and were really serious with each other, but that all got ruined. Earlier this month, Dr. Cullen got transferred to a hospital in Los Angeles really suddenly and they all just picked up and left. He broke up with Bella and she took it really hard."  
"Oh."  
"She's a friend of mine and I feel like I have to do something. I was hoping you were related to them… Like maybe you had moved here to be near them and didn't expect them to move so soon. I don't know what I would've done if that were the case, but…I had to check."

I watched her closely. She almost looked like she was going to start crying for her friend. It was a little jarring. I wanted to hug her. I wanted to hug this Bella. To tell her I was there for her. To show her how much this friend loved her. To let her know she wasn't alone and that there were people here who would be with her no matter how bad she felt.

I wanted to tear the sick son of a bitch who could do this to someone into a million pieces.


End file.
